Developing optimal aircraft trajectories that minimize flight times, fuel burn, and associated environmental emissions can enhance air traffic flow and also help the aviation industry cope with increasing fuel costs. Optimal cruise altitudes are based on, among others, atmospheric constants and aerodynamic drag coefficients that are aircraft type dependent and vary per aircraft type, while a total lift and drag generated (units of force) depends on aircraft mass. Aircraft mass determinations can be difficult to determine.
A mass of an aircraft includes many variables, such as an empty weight of the aircraft itself, an operating weight including weight of all catering and passenger service packs and crew equipment, a weight of fuel on board, a weight of all cargo/luggage, as well as a weight of all passengers.
Current flight planning systems, as well as other aircraft systems needing a value for a total mass of an aircraft, generally use a weight estimate for each passenger and associated hand-carry luggage. However, an accuracy of these passenger weight assumptions is unknown because airlines do not weigh each passenger and hand-carry luggage separately. Additionally, real weight values may vary significantly depending on passengers from different world regions, or luggage restrictions for different airlines, further adding uncertainty to these standard weight assumptions.
An accurate total mass of an aircraft is an important value useful for trajectory planning systems in order to plan an optimal flight route, as a most-optimal trajectory depends heavily on aircraft mass. Thus, what is needed is a method to accurately determine a mass value for a fully-loaded aircraft.